Thanks for the response!
I was curious about the staff because I know as a necro the staff is pretty much a must have weapon for ANY build.
That sounds very similar to how I was playing, but I had my traits spread out fairly thin.
This is the build I was using, however I think I may try out your build for a few rounds, see how it works for me.
Isn’t it terrible? There is literally NO ONE commenting on build advice to help people out, in the mesmer or necro threads that I’ve seen.
I am asking similar things myself. Ok so if the phantasm will die too quickly, and it is a bad build, care to explain WHY? And better yet how to fix it?
100+ views and no comments? Too many people are only willing to comment on the negatives and bugs methinks, and less inclined to give a little advice when asked.
So I’ll ask again:
As a phantasm build, what weapons are most effective? As for playstyle, do you swap weapons ASAP to get out as many phantasms as possible and avoid clones? Or do you play as normal, swapping when ever needed and just using phantasms how you normally would but with a bit extra power to their hits?
As a condition build the staff is the main weapon, and I would assume sceptre+anything else for offhand, but I’ve heard people saying sceptre is garbage and confusion not worth it. Is going with sword offhand worth it for a condition build?
Is the staff useful to have in a non condition based build?
To make a tanky build you have to go into the +vit and + toughness trait lines – does this make you a phantasm build as well, since the vitality is in the phantasm trait line?
I’ve been playing around with this weapon setup as well, and I’ve been debating a few things:
Should I get 20 points in Domination for 20% gs cooldown?
Should I get 20 points in Chaos, or Illusions for 20% cooldown on staff or an extra bounce?
So far after a bit of testing a build like this feels best for me
20 Mental Torment for mind wrack damage. Greatsword training for damage and lower cooldowns
20 Phantasms have fury (seemed the only useful first slot), Deceptive evasion (essential)
0
10 Vigorous Revelation – you dodge to make a clones, then when needed shatter the clones and get vigor for more dodges. Its a win
20 Precise Wrack (Can be changed with anything really, but goes with mental torment, and Illusionary Elasticity for the extra bounce. Thats an extra condition on the enemy, or a boon on you.
With this build I usually open with the greatsword 2, then 4. While they’re crippled I hit 3, and when they get close I dodge to have 3 clones up then hit 5. I usually shatter, and if 2 is off cooldown I’ll hit it before switching to staff
Spam auto attack 2-3 times, the 5 and 2 for chaos armor and a clone. 3, then dodge right after. The clone, plus your auto attacks. plus the chaos storm makes the staff phantasm do a fair chunk of damage.
From there I usually shatter again, either mind wrack if its off cooldown or what ever else the situation demands. Toss down a null field for the etherial combo field and 2 again for chaos armor and a clone. Then its swap back to GS and repeat as needed.
Mirror images is a nice utility for quick clone generation, or as a stun break. Null field is a must for pvp, and if your in pve then swap it for feedback
Being new to a mesmer, as well as pvp in general I’m curious as to the build types out there. What types are there, and what are they meant for?
What are the advantages/disadvantages/used for things like:
Phantasm build
Shatter build
Condition based staff build
Confusion based build
Power build
What weapons are best used in which situations (PvP, PvE, WvW) and which, if any should be avoided for general pvp use?
I’m not asking for full builds or anything, mostly just the uses so I can determine which type of build would fit my playstyle best
When using the default button layout, when walking forward with W, strafing left with Q at the same time the weapon swap won’t work. It is only with those combination of buttons. Forward and right works fine, and if I change the movement buttons to be shifted right it works fine. Same with changing the weapon swap from ` to anything else
My mesmer is only level 20 so it makes sense that I’m not 100% sure what I want to do with it, and I need a little help.
For PvE, I want to basically take the easiest route for leveling. My necro was able to solo 5-10 mobs with a veteran or two in there, and the occasional champion. I’d like something similar if possible for mesmer. So far the easiest, most effective set-up I could find is Staff + Greatsword. Both have a couple aoe moves that together add up fairly well. I’m not sure if I should use this setup though, or what to invest in for traits as GS and staff are two opposite weapons (Gs>power vs staff conditions)
I also just got into WvW on my necro and am loving it so I want to look into a build for this as well. I know I want to use the focus as part of my weaponset, so that leaves me with sword (power) or sceptre (conditions). From there I’m not 100% sure what would be more effective and helpful, GS or staff – but I assume staff. Of course, I’d like to be able to hold my own against 1 or 2 stray players I may come across. I’m pretty much clueless for a trait build for WvW.
I don’t do a ton of sPvP but I tried it out for a day or two and did find it pretty fun. I imagine I’ll do WvW more but I wouldn’t mind having an idea about what to do here. Would it be almost identical to the PvE or WvW builds? All the good mesmers I’ve fought seemed to heal almost constantly while doing more damage than any other profession to my necromancer, while also pumping out illusions like mad.
Anyways, I know this is a lot to ask for, but this being a pretty tough class to master I could definitely use some help knowing what direction I should be headed!
It has worked once out of about 10 tries for me. I tried pulling enemies off the walls in wvw and usually it either says obstructed, or it does nothing but goes on cooldown anyways. The one time it did work was awesome though
The average loot may be that high for you, but not quite for me. I’m not selling all my weapons I find. I salvage them for materials for my crafting professions. I have 2 on each of my 3 characters and to save money buying things on the TP I need to salvage every little thing I get.
I know there need to be money sinks to prevent inflation, but I find this a little high. A level 80 should not be forced to run through completed areas multiple times just because of WP cost.
I don’t know about you, but in the duration of my online play, waypointing 4 times in one hour is easily do-able. In fact, at level 30 and under, I was probably averaging 10 times or more an hour.
There is absolutely no need to run to your destination if you have no plans on doing the DE’s in between. All it is, is a time waster. My main (necro) has no traits for speed boosts. I have ONE utility for swiftness that I almost always keep on lately just because I travel so much. I don’t want to waste 2 utility slots because sometimes I cannot get out of combat while running, and have to kill things.
It does help actually. I went to the heart of the mists and tried it out. I went from hitting about 600-800 on a heavy golem to 800-1000 with the #2 ability
I’m sure this has been talked about to death, but I am really concerned with this.
This games way of fast travelling is completely counter-intuitive, and completely counter productive. How things generally work in games with waypoints (from my experience) is that at low levels they are almost unavailable, or restricted access.
This allows lower level characters to travel on foot more often, encountering events, enemies, hearts, vistas and PoI’s more often, in order to level up a bit easier. Then, at higher levels, since you don’t need to walk through already completed areas you have the option of fast travelling through it.
It is completely opposite in this game. At low levels I used waypoints ALOT. And I mean a lot. I would WP to 3 waypoints away to get to a heart, vista, or my story. I only walked if it was close enough. Killing less than 5 enemies would get me enough cash for multiple waypoints, and one heart or DE would cover literally 10+ waypoints.
At higher levels (I just hit 68 the other day) I find I am not using waypoints at all. With a cost of 1s50b on average to go somewhere two waypoints over from me it is insane. To travel to my story quest which goes through areas I have already completed 100% it costs upwards of 3 silver.
I now find myself using the mists to get to Lions Arch, and portaling to the closest city to where I’m going and walking from there. And these aren’t short walks to my destination either, its usually at least one full zone I’m walking through. The rewards are no longer covering the costs of waypoint travel. I am receiving around 2s 11b per heart quest, which is less than, or equal to, the cost of travel.
Even with the minimal travel I DO use, I find myself going broke. I had around 5 gold, and after buying my grandmaster trait book and general waypoint use, I’m down to 1g20s on me and about 1g50s in the bank. Let me point out that I don’t die often, and when I do its on purpose by jumping off large cliffs for fun. I don’t use the trading post often as well – I even avoid buying new gear (I still have a few pieces of level 45 gear and I’m almost 70)
Sorry for the wall of text, but I’m getting fairly frustrated with having to walk through the same areas multiple times and I can’t even explore areas lower level than me without going bankrupt.
Please please no. I love jumping puzzles the way they are. The most frustrating one I’ve done yet is the bomb race with the griffons, but my GOD what an achievement when you accomplikitten.
I normally do them with one of my friends and we’re both pretty darn good at the platforming in this game. I have another friend who tags along and isn’t very good at them and gets frustrated, but sticks with it and sees it through.
This is, personally, my absolute favourite part of the game
There is another option if you’re having trouble with enemies slightly outrunning you and going out of range. Use the staff as a secondary for the #3 chill. Also get the trait that makes blinds also apply chill, if you use dagger offhand thats a free 1s chill. Not amazing, but it helps
I would really like them to combine well of corruption and well of power into one ability. It would actually be useful then, and then they would be free to add another well ability
It sounds like what you’re suggesting is a version of the mesmer’s illusions, that fade when the enemy dies
Care to link the build?
The one I use ALL the time is staff 4, which only works if an enemy hits it to activate it. I usually pair it with staff 3 for aoe poison damage, my blood well (dont know the effect) or my other wells for aoe blind.
But yah we’re kind of lacking. If you’re desperate for another, bone minions each act as a blast finisher
I absolutely destroyed as a necro in BWE1, and I’m not a PvP’er. Its definitely been changed since then
Having got to level 60, I now find that they are actually capable of pulling off ONE whole hit. Wooo!
Before now, they would literally spawn, climb out of the ground, move one step, and fall over dead. “Awh, killing my minions? I’ll just make more!”
@Delryn
I completely agree about under water DS, all but the #4 ability. I DO like how it transfers conditions though, but I use life transfer way too often to take out groups, and add a lot of healing for friends.
If Life transfer were made to also transfer conditions from allies, and #1 or #2 gave the conditions to enemies it would just feel so much more useful. Maybe put these abilities as a trait option in the Soul Reaping tree?
Aside from that, the first 3 land Death Shroud abilities feel like they need to be replaced by the water ones.
I used minions up until I got to level 30 for the flesh golem. The first couple times I tried it, I couldn’t stand how often it would attack non hostile enemies.
Now I’m using Plague, which is great for taking down groups. My weapon setup is axe+dagger and staff. I have two abilities to slow – axe 3 is an aoe cripple, staff 3 is an aoe chill. This makes it great for slowing the enemies down and running sideways spamming aoe attacks.
For utilities, if you insist on using minions, I personally would sacrifice the shadow fiend for Well of Darkness. Its an aoe blind for 5 whole seconds which is a TREMENDOUS help. I also use well of blood for my heal as it is by far the best heal, and well of pain for my other utility. The last one I use spectral walk, just for moving around fast.
I’m specced mostly into healing (blood magic), partially into toughness (death magic) and a little into power (spite)
Using this setup, I have never once had trouble taking on groups of enemies. If you use Death Shroud and your elite, you can very easily take on a group of almost 10 enemies at once.
On the topic of Life Blast and Death Shroud (I will be making my own thread on reworks of necro traits and abilities… yah another one lol).
I think that Life Blast should also transfer a condition on hit like in underwater. In what is essentially our death form, we should shrug off conditions and force them upon our enemies! Coupled with the fact that we can’t see our conditions, and we typically use DS when we are in trouble this would be a life saver.
I also think that the fear should be aoe, again like the underwater version. Not only is a single target 1s fear next to useless PvE, its strange the water one is 2 secs, AND aoe. This would help the over all power and theme of DS. I currently only use it when I’m fighting large groups of enemies for the life transfer quick aoe.
Dark path is also next to useless for me as an axe+dagger / staff build. Going into the underwater DS again I would like to see it replaced with the aoe chill. My build uses a lot of aoe kiting, and this would very much help that.
I currently find necro very fun to play PvE even with all the bugs. There may be a new learning curve once everything gets fixed though
Ok I was mistaken, it looks like the staff never had a scythe attack that bounced, my bad.
Either way, I feel that it would be more fitting. Not only is the current auto attack LOUD, slow moving, but its capabilities of hitting multiple targets is just in a direct line which is pretty lackluster.
The mesmer’s staff auto attack bounces between targets – enemy AND friendly – and causes conditions and boons. I don’t think changing the current attack to the bouncing scythe would be over powered in ANY way. The staff currently is my go to aoe weapon, but the auto attack is nearly useless for me.
I’m not sure if I’m the only one annoyed by this.
In one of the beta weekends (1st or 2nd) I tried necro and the staff’s #1 auto attack send out a shadowy scythe that bounced between enemies.
Now playing with a staff, the weapon has a shadowy scythe on it, but doesn’t use it any more! Instead the focus has Reapers Touch, which sends out a shadowy scythe that bounces between enemies. Really? The weapon that has the scythe on it doesn’t use it, but a focus that has nothing to do with it has it instead?
I know I’m blowing this way out of proportion especially with the other bugs to work on, but it just irks me. Anyone else feel the same?
Ps. I don’t mind the ability necrotic grasp, but the sound drives me nuts. Auto attacking with it, its so loud and repetitive! Even after turning down effects volume
Which is exactly why even as a minion master, I use blood well
Thats actually a great idea, I’ve only been using spectral walk so far, and using DS and plague to get out of some sticky situations
The Mesmer problem - Defensive Cooldowns + Heavy Damage. One needs to go.
in Mesmer
Posted by: Levian.6742
Sorry, did you say Necromancers fill the role of high sustained damage? This may have been the intended design, but it certainly is not the case currently
(edited by Levian.6742)
Update*
It’s been about 2 and a half weeks, maybe 3 weeks since I’ve first had this issue. It’s still happening all the time, but keeping a download going at low speeds seems to mostly solve the issue.
Its hard finding this many things to download until this gets fixed so I don’t have to use this workaround!
I tried out a condition build and while it was decent, it felt I was lacking in group benefit PvE. So I’m trying a build thats not quite a 100% well build, but not quite a death shroud build either.
This is the build I’m thinking of using
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fQAQNAnYWjQah6Vaeb8bKAJFYz70juHXcoC7SVocA
The points in power are mostly for the retaliation in DS, as I’ll pop it when there’s a big group of enemies usually and use life transfer, then usually dark path and fear just to use them up for extra conditions since I’m in DS anyways. Enemies usually aggro me when I’m in DS and this may add to my damage a bit. Also, a little extra power never hurts!
The points in death magic are all for the +toughness. The trait abilities I find are pretty lackluster. I wanted to get a bit of toughness since its next to useless to have a lot of points in vitality, but no toughness. The one ability I DO like is the protection when a well is used, and retaliation when healing is kind of nice since wells already give protection, AND if I go 30 points into +healing power all wells will heal, which should proc the retaliation for all wells. I’m kind of torn right now between Spiteful Vigor, and Greater Marks, as the staff is my main source of aoe damage
The +healing is something I’m kind of iffy about. I’m not high enough level to actually get the grandmaster All wells siphon health on pulse, so I don’t know if its really worth the extra 10 points to get it. I probably wouldn’t use the siphoning health is 50% more effective trait, since I find life transfer to be an amazing heal every 40 seconds (34 traited).
I need to know from other people’s experience if getting Vampiric Rituals + Bloodthirst is better heals with the 3 wells I’m using is better than Transfusion + 10 points into Soul Reaping for Path of Midnight (15% recharge time on DS skills) shortening Life Transfer’s CD to 34 seconds instead of 40.
This will determine if I bother putting 10 points into Soul Reaping and 10 points into Spite. If all wells siphoning health IS better, I may put points into Curses for blind also chills (Chilling Darkness) and POSSIBLY well’s use ground targetting (Focused Rituals) although I love just hitting a well and having it pop up, its really quick and easy for fast paced group fights.
My weapons are Axe+dagger / Staff. If I go into Curses instead of Spite I’d consider changing to a scepter.
Thanks for reading, and hope I get some good input!
(edited by Levian.6742)
Ok so I finally tried what other people have been suggesting. After a week of this problem and nothing working, I JUST tried setting a torrent file to download at 30-60 KB/s, not fast enough to slow anything down.
And guess what. IT WORKS. 5 minutes ago, the game was unplayable. I tried to lay an aoe field, the button just flashed for 4 minutes, then I got kicked. After setting the download I was instantly able to play with no lag problems.
Its an annoying solution but if any of you have files you want to download but have been avoiding doing it during the day so you don’t disrupt your gw2 and other internet usage, just set it to a low download speed.
ANet, please please get on this. I just want to play my guild wars. We need a response and soon
I was having this error for about a week. The monday of last week (17th) the game worked fine for a week, up until today
I’m looking into a supportive/healing style for my necro and I’m wondering about both these traits. First off, is Vampiric Rituals even worth it? Is the heal half decent, or is it something pathetic like 20 health per pulse at 80? And does well of blood benefit from this trait, or only things like well of darkness?
Also I’m wondering if Bloodthirst increases the health gain from wells using Vampiric Rituals.
I’ll probably be using axe+dagger / staff for this build, since hopefully with a bit of toughness, vitality and death shroud I’ll be a little tanky, and I can kite enemies around without being exactly melee range
I’m by no means an elite player. I decided to try AC story mode for the first time at 32, and our group consisted of myself a Necro not really specced into anything, a thief, and a guardian. We’re all guild mates but none of us had vent or anything like that. The last 2 people were an elementalist and another thief.
And we had absolutely no problems. Sure, people got downed during fights, but for the most part it went pretty smoothly. There WAS one group of enemies to the left of the lovers, up the stairs that were absolutely ridiculous. They hit 3-4x what any other mob hit, and it was a lot of aoe and unavoidable damage so we ended up having to pull them 1 at a time.
AC Exp was another story. We tried the 3rd boss first and could NOT get past the swarms off enemies coming out of the burrows and destroying the collectors. I swear its impossible
This skill is quite amazing. It lasts for 5 seconds, pulsing once each second. Each pulse gives blindness for 3 seconds. So that basically means anything within range is going to miss you for 5 times in a row. Its very useful when taking on large groups of enemies, and when traited for blindness to chill of one second, its also a powerful aoe chill.
This utility has a permanent spot on my utility bar
“I’d love to see an elementalist solo kitten without any spells. That’s some MLG-tier bullkitten I’d love to learn.”
What the hell is with everyone adding “kitten” to the end of every word now?
The axe is a very low damaging weapon, but I’ve been using it forever.
My setup is axe+dagger OH / staff. You could substitute the dagger for a warhorn or focus or what ever but basically I open with the OH dagger ability 4 for an aoe blind, then usually the axe 3 for an aoe cripple while I target the highest priority enemy with autoattack for vulnerability stacks, then use 2.
By then the cripple and blind will have worn off so I switch to a staff and immediately lay 3 and 4 for a cripple, damage and poison aoe. Then I usually drop my wells for damage and blinding, using the staffs 5 if they get too close for a quick fear. When everythings on cooldown, death shroud for an aoe damager plus a fear. By then you can switch back to the axe and repeat.
Using this method I find the kiting capabilities so good that I can take out en entire group of melee enemies without getting less than half health. The same tactics work for veteran/champion enemies but with a lot more dodging, and timing of your cripples, blinds and fears so that you always have one ability not on cd to keep your distance
So at 80 I rerolled to DS/Dagger build. It looks something like this:
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#MzVMzm0zmFwvmmFRvMaG0axomVzoMb
I toyed with subbing Signet of Spite in for Blood is Power, but the shorter CD on BiP is pretty nice. Basically, the gist is to start the fight popping in and out of DS quick to stack fury, doing some damage, AoE if necessary, and finish it off in DS.
I’ve tried MM (sucks), Conditionmancer (better), and this so far, and I am enjoying this the most. The epidemic thing + the dagger OH + piercing DS shots make AoE fights more viable, still, and the single-target damage seems much higher. In terms of elite skills, you’re hard pressed not to take the golem I feel. Lich is too gimmicky and situational, and the knockdown is just awesome. The AI is definitelykitten but even with that I find it to be the best elite.
Just a warning that I haven’t played this build in pvp at all, and can’t vouch for it there.
edit: Really ANet? “d e r p y” is censored? Isn’t that a bit much?
Thanks for the lengthy response!
Currently I use the axe+dagger/staff and while the damage is very sub-par I find that with all the aoe’s I can kite and whittle down large groups fairly easily, while not taking much damage. How do you manage to use the daggers to good effect and not take too much damage being melee range?
Also what are you using as a secondary weapon set? I’ve read that the staff is the best at life force regen, and it has some nice cc capabilities, as well as just general aoe damage.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I guess I should have mentioned – this is mostly a PvE build for now, but I will be trying pvp fairly soon and I want to be able to use a DS build for that as well.
I chose Transfusion because I do a fair bit of group play even when just questing, and at level 40, each tick of damage heals everyone for 50 which is a pretty big heal. When I’m solo I’d switch it for something else, maybe mark of blood on dodge.
What do you think about weapons? Should I be going for pure damage with this kind of build, or should I be thinking about conditions?
Also, how good is Death Shiver? The main reason I went into the Death Magic trait line is for this ability as it seems very good – but I’m not sure about its practical application.
(edited by Levian.6742)
**UPDATE***
So it seems it may be a route issue. If you have a lot of devices using the wifi from your router it may not be configured properly, or some such. I had someone call up my ISP while I was at work and they did something (not sure what), and also said they will be sending out a technician do to.. something.
So far I’ve only been disconnected once today, and I’ve had no noticeable lag after having this problem for 3 days straight now. Will probably post an update either if the lag comes back, or in a few days if this solves the problem
After getting to 40 and realizing I couldn’t go minion master like I wanted, I have to re-think my build. I think I want to fully utilize death shroud as it can be extremely powerful, even with abilities that don’t do a ton of damage.
For a death shroud build I’m not sure if I should get the full 30 points in Soul Reaping (trait skills would be Vital Persistence, Unyielding Blast, and if I’m going 30 points Near to Death – is this one very useful?) I know I’m going to need as much vitality as I can get, because increased healthpool is an increased life force pool as well, virtually doubling my health.
I think I’ll put at least 10 points into Blood Magic for life transfer heals allies, but I’m not sure how much more to put into that tree.
20 points in Death Magic for Death Shiver
10 points in Curses for Enfeebling Blood (worth it?)
10 points in Spite for Reaper’s Might (possibly 20 for Spiteful Spirit as well)
All in all, this is what I’m thinking (go to the trait tab)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fQAQBoiQSx1+1UhuBV49RFOGlC3tOA
I still have no clue about what weapons to use. I’m not sure if as a DS build I should be going cond damage or might, but I’ll probably include the staff as one of my weapons.
Any thought or suggestions? I haven’t tested any of this yet
EDIT
I forgot to mention, I’m thinking of using this as a somewhat tanky build
(edited by Levian.6742)
Thats what I’m going for in my final build as well. Currently I have 5 points in Illusion for the decreased illusion cooldowns as it seemed the best early trait skill.
Would it be better to substitute the greatsword for the staff until I get high enough for traits?
So I know what I want to do with my mesemer. I want to use a staff/sword+focus or sword offhand with a condition build. The only issue is getting to the point where that setup is actually good (around level 40 I’m guessing).
So I’m looking for some suggestions on what weapons/traits to use until I get high enough to get the traits for my desired setup. I’m hoping to be able to take on at least small groups of enemies (3 or 4) as well as being able to kill veteran/champion enemies.
There is already a stickied list of bugs, and they do read the forums even if they don’t respond to all of them. I personally think they haven’t done anything with the necro yet is because they are planning a BIG change for them with one patch
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/error-code-7-11-3-189-101/first#post12471
I don’t have a “C:/Gamse”
What should I do?
How did you all get this to work?
Are you trolling, or just not very good with computers?
Its a typo, he meant C:/Games
Although this is just the default install location for many people. Just find what ever folder your game is located in
Definitely. As a level 40 necro, I can say you have pretty good survivability with DS, even without speccing into it. And with axe+dagger/staff you have very good kiting abilities and can take on veterans/champions solo, or groups of 5+ enemies.
I’d love another post from aNet, even just something along the lines of “we acknowledge the problem exists and are working on a solution”. As it stands we have two posts from 12 days ago suggesting a fix that didn’t work, and a Diag log.
I wana play my GW2kitten
Check out MrPrometheus’s post and lengthy videos – he pretty much suggests this build and his videos give a very detailed description of the traits, utilities, and how to use that weapon combo
Oh and here’s my diag. Hope it helps in fixing this issue… I just want to be able to play again!
EDIT**
So after completely disabling my antivirus I still got lag and a crash, but this time with a new error – Code=1022:5:1:825:101
Attachments:
(edited by Levian.6742)